Odisha Lost 22 Doctors During COVID 2nd Wave: IMA

Bhubaneswar: The second wave of COVID-19 has killed 594 doctors, including 22 from Odisha, and sickened hundreds of others since March.

According to the COVID registry of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Delhi saw the highest number of 107 such deaths followed by Bihar (96) and Uttar Pradesh (67).

Dr. Anas Mijahid, 25, from Delhi was the youngest physician to have died of the infection. Other prominent doctors, who breathed their last after getting infected, include former health minister and physician AK Walia, renowned cardiologist and former head of IMA Dr KK Agarwal and gastroenterologist Dr RK Himthani.

The IMA said that nearly 1,300 doctors have died on the line of duty fighting COVID ever since the pandemic began last year. It started keeping a registry after the Centre said it no such data.

A total of 747 doctors lost their lives in the first wave with the highest of 91 from Tamil Nadu. While Maharashtra saw 81 doctors succumbing to the virus, 71 were from West Bengal, 70 from Andhra Pradesh, 68 from Karnataka, 65 from Uttar Pradesh and 62 from Gujarat, the IMA data said.

Odisha had seen 14 doctors losing the battle to COVID-19.